The present invention relates to a system, apparatus, and a method for adding an interactive layer to printed publications and, more particularly, but not exclusively to system, apparatus, and a method for identifying a label in a printed publication, such as a book, and presenting multimedia content in response.
Devices that add an interactive layer to printed publications, such as books and comic magazines, are known. Coded labels, which are adhered to the printed publication, allow users to gain added enjoyment by playing phrases spoken by popular characters, sound effects, or game ideas, which are related to a section of the printed publication.
An example for such a device is a reader that allows users to scan barcodes, which are printed in the proximity of a certain text, and play a related audio file in response. Such a device has a limited applicability, as it may be difficult to teach little children to perform the scanning along the barcodes. In addition, such a reader uses a laser based reading head that may be hazardous for little children and youngsters, because it may cause undesired eye exposure to the emitted laser. Such an exposure may cause retinal damage if it lasts for more then several seconds.
An example of a device that has better applicability is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application No. 2006/0259314, published on Nov. 16, 2006 that describes a reading device having a handle or grabbing surface, a label identification head and means for outputting an audio sequence corresponding to each label that is identified. The label has bi-dimensional distinguishing features. The identification head includes a bi-dimensional sensor array that is adapted to read the distinguishing features in the label without scanning, when the device is placed over the label. A reading device comprises a handle for easy and ergonomic grabbing by a child's hand, an identification head located in the lower part of the device, for identifying each label when the identification head is placed over the label without scanning and audio generating means for generating predefined sounds for each identified label. As such a reader device is not limited to a laser based reading head, but it may have a greater applicability.
Another example of a device that provides an interactive layer to a book is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,763,995, issued on Jul. 20, 2004 which describes a method and system for illustrating sound and text comprising a book with pages including illustrations and text, wherein at least some of the pages include magnetic signatures. The system further includes a book holder adapted to accept the book. As such, the book holder has a reading surface with a magnetic signature sensor, a cartridge slot, a reading controller, a speaker, and a power supply. The system also comprises a cartridge adapted to be inserted into the cartridge slot. The cartridge includes stored audio representations related to the illustrations and/or text of the pages. The magnetic signature sensor is predisposed to detect the magnetic signatures on the pages as they are turned by a user viewing the book. Furthermore, the reading controller is adapted to interact with the magnetic signature sensor to determine what page or pages the user is viewing and to retrieve the audio representations of the illustrations and/or text stored on the cartridge corresponding to the page or pages being viewed by the user. Thus, the reading controller reproduces the audible sounds related to the retrieved audio representations through the speaker for listening by the user. Though the patent provides a system for illustrating sound and text, it utilizes a book holder that increases the price of the system and makes it much more complicated for production than a simple system that only comprises a reader device. Moreover, the patent provides a system that is designated to read magnetic signatures from one or more designated books and therefore regular books without magnetic signatures cannot be used.